


Nothing Else Matters

by sian1359



Category: Stargate Atlantis
Genre: Action/Adventure, Angst, Hurt/Comfort, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-10-29
Updated: 2011-10-29
Packaged: 2017-10-25 01:54:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 10,402
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/270437
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sian1359/pseuds/sian1359
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Atlantis goes back, but John returns to Earth for Dave</p>
            </blockquote>





	Nothing Else Matters

**Author's Note:**

> Another story I've discovered I didn't post here. Written for the 2010 SGA Secret Santa Fic Exchange; recipient forestgreen, who wanted Dave Sheppard to find out about John amongst other things I tried to provide. Title and quote from Metallica.

_Trust I seek and I find in you_

Just like his father in this position before him, Dave Sheppard paid his executive assistant extremely well. In part, it was to deal with those matters his cadre of other assistants and secretaries did not, such as correspondences marked confidential or personal. He kept no secrets from Margaret Carnett, business or personal. So when Maggie came into his office well outside of their scheduled time the two of them normally spent going over things, with his head of security in tow and with a very distressed look on her face, Dave knew something was up.

Maggie handed him a half sheet of paper without a word, the paper encased within a clear plastic sleeve, which meant they were preserving fingerprints. Threatening letters weren't exactly new, not after the mess of Enron or in the face of the current environmental movement. Although Sheppard Utilities was quite diversified and a champion of green technology exploration and research on a variety of levels, energy companies as a rule weren't on the top of anyone's favorites list.

Surprised that Maggie was bringing this one to his attention, as she and Miles generally handled these types of things too without his direct involvement and simply gave him the highlights after the police got called in, Dave took the paper with some trepidation. Reading over the one line note, Dave was still confused. _It is a matter of utmost importance that you ALONE meet with me tomorrow, Friday, at 2:00pm, in front of the wall of the Viet Nam War Memorial_ was all it said. Nothing particularly threatening about it, or even noteworthy.

Until Miles handed him the set of photographs that had obviously come with the … request.

There were five. One each of Vicki and Danielle at home; one of Vicki at one of her recent charity things; of Dani being picked up by Henry at school within the last week (going by the clothes Dani wore); and one showing Dave along with his family, the three of them coming back to Henry and the Town Car after taking Dani to her grandfather's grave for the first time. _Fourteen months ago._

"This is … they've had us under surveillance for more than a year," Dave growled in outrage and horror. "And you never had a clue? Do you have anything now?"

Miles' expression was grim as he shook his head. "I've taken the liberty of notifying Henry and the house staff, along with sending men out to watch over your wife and daughter today, but given that we had no inkling they were out there, I think we're going to need trained professionals on this "

"Not the police," Dave cut him off in protest.

"You know we have to notify them, Mr. Sheppard," Miles argued. "The police or, better yet, the FBI. This does involve different jurisdictions between the house and Danielle's school, so we can."

Dave shook his head. "We have nothing to give them, Miles. I mean, you actually talked to Vicki, right? She's home right now and safe with Dani?"

"I spoke to them both, Mr. Sheppard," Maggie spoke up. "Danielle is quite looking forward to this weekend, something about you promising to take her to the National Air and Space Museum so she can spend time looking at the exhibits her field trip rushed her through?"

This time Dave nodded as he sat back in his chair and took a deep breath. "I'm presuming you have a personal contact in the FBI?" he directed his attention to Miles, and gave another long exhale when Miles nodded. "Notify them through your back door, then. It's not as if anything has actually happened that they can take action against. And if I meet with whoever this is, maybe nothing will."

Miles frowned. "You don't believe that. And you are not going to the meeting alone, regardless of what they want," he warned.

"If they've had the family under surveillance for over a year, they know we use Henry, so I doubt they'll be surprised to see me driven there. Or that you've switch Henry out with one of your men to stay in the car," Dave conceded. "This is a public meeting place, so it's not like they're going to grab me or anything. Could we have some people around playing tourist or acting as mourners to keep a closer eye on things if something does go south?"

Miles' frown deepened. "If they've been planning this for more than a year, then we have to suspect they have someone on the inside of the company, someone who'd recognize our people. The company I stole my second from does this kind of thing. They're mainly ex-military and provide both bodyguard and surveillance teams for mostly diplomats and foreign visitors who might need some extra protection when they can't get permits to bring or arm their own."

Miles pulled out another sheet of paper from his folder and handed it over. A computer printout from the home page of a company called AsGuard, only these Vikings had guns. Dave started to toss it aside, to voice his derision, but Miles stopped him cold.

"Bates says that the public face of the company is like that on purpose, but that they really do know their stuff and that the tackiness keeps them from being overrun with requests from people who don't really need their specific expertise. I trust Bates' judgment, plus I contacted your friend in Homeland Security, who also vouched for them."

Dave closed his eyes for a few moments, feeling overwhelmed, with the weight and pressure of his position pressing in on him in a way he'd never experienced before. Not even when he'd found himself in charge of everything with his father's sudden death.

While his own childhood had had its own share of drama, he could admit now that most of it had been homegrown, the natural conflicts between father and sons -- between brothers especially after their mother had left them. Undoubtedly his father had made his share of enemies beyond his wife and John back then, surely executives and owners of successful companies received threats even then, but Dave didn't remember any instances of strangers either watching or watching over his childhood. It had been a different time then, strangely innocent compared to today's world.

"Do it."

*******

Getting a call in the middle of the night was common enough that despite being several years into their off and on relationship, he and Ronon rarely spent the full night together. That was about the only thing that had Lieutenant Colonel John Sheppard thinking back fondly of the seven months Atlantis had been stuck on Earth, though even there, he and Ronon hadn't had too many opportunities to share the night. They _had_ found the time to indulge in a couple of the scenes that were entirely too dangerous when the Wraith, not to mention the Control Room, could come calling at any moment; when even a few extra seconds needed to untie or cut tethers could be a matter of life or death (or dismissal), however.

Tonight the two of them hadn't done anything more than eat dinner together, along with Rodney, Jennifer, and Evan. The five of them, along with Richard Woolsey who'd, by the skin of his teeth managed to retain his position as the head of the expedition, had been spending all of their waking hours over the last four days trying to deal with the problems and changes cropping up now that they'd returned Atlantis back to Pegasus. John wasn't in the habit of thanking the enemy for anything, Todd notwithstanding, but in this instance, getting them home had been all the Lucien Alliances' doing by destroying the SGC's Icarus Base and, thereby, scaring the crap out of the IOA with the idea that Atlantis would be their next target if she remained in the Milky Way galaxy. John was still pissed that their own arguments hadn't swayed the bureaucrats even as he was grateful that _something_ had.

Not that being back was proving to be a walk in the park. Not that they'd expected one either; they had their own enemies here beyond the Wraith, as well as the simpler difficulties that came from living so far away from their support and supply lines. Then there was the need to explore and adapt to yet another new planet, since his and Rodney's idea of returning Atlantis to its original planet had been shot down. And the integration of new personnel was always a challenge, and fraught with interesting dilemmas, as even veteran SGC members weren't quite prepared for Atlantis and Pegasus no matter what they'd been warned about.

With so many possibilities behind a middle of the night emergency, John didn't even try to guess. Instead, he simply put in his transceiver to stop its chirping, urgent tone. "This is Sheppard," he then signaled upon opening the connection to the Control Room, while he also started changing from sleep clothes to work ones. If it was an emergency requiring his immediate attention in whatever state he'd been found in, the alarm would have come across the city-wide.

"Sorry to disturb you, Colonel," Amelia Banks responded from the other end.

Once Chuck's off duty counterpart, Amelia had volunteered for the night shift upon their return, leaving it to Chuck to train up the new staff. John still wasn't sure if her request was to get out of having to deal with the nuggets, or because Woolsey had turned the night shift position into one of greater authority; Amelia now having responsibility over the rest of the support staff and an equal to John's night shift officer of the day. While John hoped it wasn't because her own relationship with Ronon had turned out intense but short-lived, not surviving beyond the first month of their stay on Earth, that was also a good possibility, even if Amelia didn't seem to be actively avoiding Ronon, nor Ronon her.

John felt somewhat responsible, either way. Also guilty, being that he was happy about it for more than how efficient the night shift now ran.

"What have you got, Em?"

"An emergency transmission from the SGC, tagged for your eyes only."

That woke and focused John fully; ninety-nine percent of the messages from Earth and SGC went to the expedition commander, with the other one percent coming from Sam, directly for Rodney whenever the two of them collaborated on whatever esoteric projects their genius cooked up. Even when his father had died, the message had gone through Sam as his CO, as would something like him being recalled by the Big Air Force. Anything else was held for the regular data exchange between Earth and Atlantis. For the life of him, John couldn't imagine what would be sent to _him_ , off schedule and it only being twenty days since they'd left Earth in the first place.

"Send it through." John forwent putting on his thigh holster and instead headed over to his laptop, setting the gun down to run the email and encryption programs. Seven messages from Rodney hit his inbox first and he wasted time looking through their headers as the SGC file downloaded. Seven messages even though John had dragged Rodney out of his lab to get some sleep at the same time he'd needed to crash a couple of hours ago. At least none of them were coded urgent despite Rodney's use of flags and Caps Lock.

John took the time to nudge Atlantis and request that she blink off the lights in Rodney's quarters as a two minute warning that they'd be shut off until morning no matter how Rodney pleaded, barring a real emergency. He then also sent off an email of his own, coded #3 priority, to the Officer of the Day, expanding the night patrols' usual duty of checking the labs to include authorization to strongly suggest that Rodney get back to his quarters if they found him elsewhere, and an order to notify John if Rodney refused.

(Rodney might be the smartest man in two galaxies, but sometimes he wasn't smart enough to figure out even he needed more than a catnap or gallons of coffee to stoke his brain and come up with his miracles. All of the miracles they needed right now were mainly of time, even if Atlantis had landed on a world that had twenty-seven hours in its day. Time and a return of certain missing personnel. Rodney overworked himself as the rule, not the exception, and with Radek temporarily remaining on Earth with a team seeing if they could restore the Weapons Chair back to working order after the Wraith had bombed it along with a good chunk of Area 51; John knew that Rodney was feeling his second's absence keenly.)

Rodney hopefully sorted out; John returned to his download and opened the SGC's message. General Landry had always been terse in his exchanges with John, even before returning Ancients had kicked the expedition out of the city several years ago and John had stolen Earth's puddlejumper to get her back. Seven months of much closer proximity to one another hadn't exactly changed any opinions. In this instance, though, Landry looked troubled and sympathetic, which freaked John out enough that he was glad for the interruption by the sudden chime on his door.

"Amelia called me," Ronon explained as he entered before John had a chance to answer; John didn't lock his door to his team.

John hoped he looked more confused than angry. "She read the message?"

Rodney had a hack trace on the incoming data bursts, of course, something John had even taken advantage of when it had looked like the IOA was going to recall Elizabeth during their second year in Atlantis though he hadn't used it since. He'd never suspected Rodney had shared even more though, or that that Chuck or Amelia might have set up their own hack, given their easiest access as the clearing house.

Only the look that Ronon was giving him was the weird, amused one when Ronon thought John was being stupid.

Oh, right. _That_ was Amelia's insider information.

This time John's expression slid into mild panic, although if he really thought about it, she'd already had the best grounds to turn him in and hadn't.

There had always been an understanding between him and Ronon that one day Ronon would want someone he didn't have to hide loving, not to mention someone he could be with and start a family. John had encouraged Ronon's interest in Jennifer Keller, then with Amelia when Jennifer had instead ended up with Rodney. And John had been happy for all four of them -- six if he counted Teyla and Kanaan -- even if it had left him odd man out.

Only it had turned out that 'their' understanding had only been John's mistaken assumption.

During their fourteenth week of exile on Earth, John had been called on that assumption and informed that Ronon had only dated Jennifer and Amelia because of John's insistence. Ronon had succinctly pointed out that he already had a family and that who he loved was no one else's business, whether there were rules about it or not. That, frankly, he was tired of fucking around in all senses of the word.

It wasn't that simple, of course, as John had a lot of fucking baggage related to his sexuality and regarding other people's expectations. About declarations coming out of a near death experiences for that matter, too, but the two of them had come to an understanding and were good right now, really good, with John finally accepting that their relationship was about more than just fucking or even a brother-in-arms type of thing.

"In my defense," John offered, "I've had all of five hours of sleep in the last two days -- Okay, so the same amount as you," he then interrupted himself and added in resignation when Ronon's expression didn't change.

With that acknowledgment, Ronon looked even more fond, as well as smug from the differences in their ages that he sometimes ragged John about. He sauntered over to loom behind John, contorting to then lean down with his chin on John's shoulder so he could see the laptop screen.

"She's not going to tell anyone," Ronon rumbled into John's ear. "She's known for a while, from before I started courting her. And she's the one who sent me back to you after she took me home to meet her family. I … ah … I guess maybe I tried to check up on you a few too many times. You were still in those stupid meetings with the IOA and Landry's people, when everyone else was done and back on Atlantis or given leave and I might have made some kind of threat to get you out from under them."

John had to smile, even if he still wasn't sure he could trust Amelia with this (though he mostly did and he certainly trusted Ronon). Their relationship probably wasn't the secret he thought it was, anyway.

"Think he's recalling you now that we don't need your gene to get the city home?" Ronon asked, voicing the same fear John had thought he'd done a good job of keeping to himself.

Woolsey hadn't been the only one the IOA had been pushing a replacement candidate for.

John didn't answer, just opened the entry.

_Colonel Sheppard_

_The Trust has contacted and threatened your brother's family. You have authorization to return to the SGC, using the stargate._

_General Hank Landry_

Ronon stalked out of John's room amidst subaudible growls and curses before John could close the window. He had a few curses of his own while he packed up a kit, then sat down to take care of the rest of what needed to be dealt with before he could leave.

Woolsey and Lorne would need to be awakened and told; Rodney too, or John wouldn't hear the end of it once he made it back. Teyla was currently off world, but even if she had been on Atlantis, John wouldn't have expected her to come with him anymore than he could ask Rodney. This wasn't a team mission, even if Rodney could be spared from the City, and while John knew that Ronon had left to gather his own travel and mayhem kit, he wasn't completely sure Ronon should come with him -- wasn’t sure that Woolsey could afford Ronon's absence too.

Multiple meetings and gate trips had been set up over the next two weeks to visit some of their trading partners and the Coalition Council, who were already pissed at Atlantis' long-term disappearance. They'd need a Pegasus native in their delegation to even get a couple of the worlds to meet with them. Teyla would come back, John was sure, but it wasn't fair to ask it of her, as her exile had been not just from her home, but her family and people. Plus Woolsey might need Ronon as a backup as well as a reference, since with John off Atlantis for an unknown number of days, Lorne wouldn't be going along as part of Richard's protection detail.

Fuck, but this really sucked.

******

Coming through the gate and finding Colonel Carter waiting to meet them probably wasn't a good thing, but Ronon was glad for it. Being stuck on Earth had given him time to meet more SGC personnel and get to know and respect a few of them, but over all, his impression of the Earth's military and leaders hadn't improved. As a whole they were insular and self important, unable to conceive of the threat the Wraith posed, nor that they couldn't meet it, even though it had only been Atlantis' intervention that had allowed them to survive the encounter with a single Wraith ship. Ronon also hadn't found Landry to be any better than the rest of the IOA bureaucrats since he was still working on having John replaced.

Carter, though, had supported John while she'd been on Atlantis, and still trusted and respected him, having gone so far as to pressure her government to acknowledge the Lantean's contribution in saving Earth. She also _knew_ John.

"Colonel, Ronon."

She greeted them warmly enough, though Ronon could see evidence of strain around her eyes. There was something more going on than just John's brother being threatened.

"General Landry has released the _Hammond_ for your use and has turned over your briefing to me. If you are ready, we can transport up directly. I've taken the liberty to stock everything I think you'll need." She made an abortive move toward John, her hand reaching out, but she turned the gesture to tapping her earbud and gave the order to bring them up to her ship.

"What's happened?" John asked the instant they appeared inside an empty room, obviously having picked up on the same tells Ronon had.

"John, I'm sorry. General Landry decided to wait on the details. Three hours ago, your brother's car was forced off the road. The driver and his wife were killed and your brother shot when he tried to stop the men who then kidnapped his daughter."

That Carter didn't try to hedge was one more of the things that Ronon liked about her. Delaying or softening the news wouldn't have made it any easier to hear.

"What the fuck?" John exploded. "If you knew the Trust was involved, why did it get that far? What, Landry decided my brother was in voluntary contact, that he was involved and decided to catch him instead of protecting him?"

"No, it wasn't like that," Carter assured him. "We got involved as soon as we were notified of the threat. Homeworld Security ... ah, your ex-wife, ah, Nancy?"

John nodded, warily, at Carter's unusual hesitancy, while Ronon worked not to smile. He remembered Nancy. Tiny like Teyla but dark like Elizabeth, and with the same kind of hidden strength Elizabeth had had inside. The similarities had explained a lot about John's reactions and relationship with the former leader of the expedition.

"Nancy is working now directly for Jack," Carter was continuing. It took Ronon a moment to place Jack as that O'Neill guy who'd allowed the expedition to be kicked out of Atlantis, but also the guy who gave her back to John and the others. Both times, Ronon had the feeling.

"Apparently once Nancy was read into the program, she quickly came to the conclusion that the Trust might go after family members of SGC personnel since everything else they had tried had been stymied, so Jack had her set up a operation to keep an eye on likely targets. Part of that involved forming an elite security firm peopled by former and potential SGC and NID personnel. Neil Barrett is the president of AsGuard Security on paper, and he was the one who suggested that Eugene Bates got hired on in the security department of your brother's firm when it became obvious that David would be a target not just because of your involvement in the SGC, John, but because of the company he heads. Sheppard Utilities commands power and influence, and quite possibly the Trust thought it was more vulnerable to their machinations after your father's death."

John nodded slowly this time, his expression showing he agreed with Carter's conclusions, even if he didn't like them. "Was Bates there during the attack?"

Carter shook her head, her face suddenly filling with shame. "I'm sorry, I should have told you upfront. Actually, it was Laura Cadman who'd drawn today's duty. They had to shoot her three times to get her to give up the daughter. She was alive somehow, last I heard, transported back at the SGC so Emma and Vala could work on her and keep her that way. Vala has one of the Goa'uld healing devices," Carter quickly then explained off both Ronon's and John's blank look.

For a second, fury and devastation broke through John's soldier's mask which, perversely, made Ronon feel a little better. Carter too, by the way she visible relaxed tense shoulders. They, all three of them, were seasoned warriors, professional to the core, and had had a lifetime of perfecting the facade that nothing could make them lose that professionalism, but John was above a specialist's ranking in control, probably because he guarded all of his emotions and feelings so much of the time. Too much of the time.

For John to show even those few fleeting seconds of how he really felt displayed a level of trust normally only reserved for McKay and Teyla, and Ronon was grateful for it; both the trust and the evidence that John was feeling more than just a sense of obligation or guilt. Despite restoring contact with his brother, Ronon hadn't been sure of the depth of John's feelings about his Earth family; John had only visited Dave once in the entirety of the seven months they'd been exiled on Earth as far as Ronon knew.

"Bates was the one who made contact with AsGuard and, therefore, us," Carter continued her briefing. While she still had an air of sympathy and remorse about her, she had her mask back on too. "About a week ago, to request a full security team for David's protection. Captain Cadman asked if she could volunteer to run that detail."

"You waited a week to contact me?" John ground out, his voice not rising, but Ronon could see the tension and anger was back, so very close to the surface.

Carter saw it too. "You were still in transit with Atlantis, John," she pointed out, keeping her chiding gentle but obvious, reminding John not just of the facts, but that she wasn't going to accept accusations or intimidation. John made a gesture with his hand that she chose to accept as an apology or at least an acknowledgement it appeared, and continued.

"It had turned out that the first message and contact with your brother was actually from a whistleblower, trying to warn your brother off of the company that was interested in forcing a business relationship. On the surface, it was just a hostile takeover attempt, and once Dave was contacted by the whistleblower's employer, he actually ordered the protection detail called off. We didn't, not really, but that meant shuffling people around that Dave wouldn't recognize, and that's why Laura moved out from operations and into the field. She'd made contact with your brother as a coach interested in Dani's archery skills. They were coming home from practice today to discuss putting her into individual training and a special program for Olympic hopefuls. From what I understand, she really does have that potential."

Even the Wraith didn't prey directly on children, well, nothing beyond leaving them bereft of their families and forced to grow up too soon. Actually, turning these _nomicus_ over to the Wraith sounded a lot like justice to Ronon.

"The takeover company turned out to be traced back to a Trust holding, which was enough for Homeworld to authorize the continued involvement. The thing is, murdering your brother's wife seems extreme for them, quite contrary to their usual MO. I mean, even if your brother cooperates now, any contract would be thrown out as signed under duress once he has his daughter back, and if they kill her too, obviously your brother isn't going to cooperate with anything. We are positive the Trust does not have their hooks into anyone who would be likely to take over running Sheppard Utilities if Dave is killed, so all we can conclude is that the Trust has a short term goal that none of us have figured out yet, some sort of payoff outside a merger or partnership since they wouldn't be able to maintain the connection."

"Wouldn't John be in charge of the company if they killed his brother?" Ronon asked. "Maybe their payoff is getting John involved."

Carter look surprised at Ronon's suggestion, though her surprise could have been from him suggesting anything at all and not the idea itself. Yeah, Carter had lived with them for most of a year on Atlantis, certainly long enough to properly understand the realities and the priorities, but she'd not exactly taken the time to get to know Ronon or Teyla as anything other than members of John's team. Not that Ronon had gone out of his way in return, either.

John looked neither surprised, nor particularly upset by the suggestion, but then even Ronon was ready to teach the enemy the folly of their actions, and Dave Sheppard was only _noman_ to him -- was family by association.

"That could be it, but why did they wait? If the Trust wanted John or his cooperation, they had easier opportunities when Atlantis was grounded on Earth. With or without involving his brother."

Carter's voice was soft enough, her expression turned inward, that Ronon wasn't sure if she was talking to them, or just talking out loud to herself.

Again, John didn't seem to care.

"Where is Dave now?" he asked instead of making an answer or comment.

At that, Carter looked decidedly guilty. "Sorry. He's here, John. I should have taken you to the med bay right away."

John frowned, but obviously waved her apology off this time. "Unless he's critical, it was probably better to brief me here, where I can yell at you without you having to exert your authority or me trying to undermine it," John offered, his expression turning wry.

Carter managed a small grin at that, despite that in the years Ronon had known him, he'd heard John yell maybe three times: twice at McKay, and once at a couple of his marines. Much like Ronon himself, John got quiet when he got angry; preferring to brood over confronting someone who'd pissed him off.

"The ones who ordered the attack have to know your brother would have been taken to a hospital for treatment, so we felt his disappearing off their radar for a few hours wouldn't endanger anything."

Carter sounded like she was wrapping things up.

"Frankly, if this _has_ been under orders from the Trust, they're going to expect our involvement, maybe even, like Ronon said, be counting on it. Either way, we rigged all of his communication lines to be run through the ship, for when he gets contacted by the kidnappers."

John now looked pleased, at least as far as he could given the circumstances. His face then took on an expression that was part surprise and speculation. "Shit, is Dave aware he's on a spaceship? Was he conscious when he was brought up?"

"Oh, yeah," Carter laughed. "I was authorized to give him partial disclosure about the program. I didn't even get a chance to explain anything beyond the existence of the SGC before he guessed your involvement by accusing me of seducing you with my spaceships. Something about a letter writing campaign back in the seventies to NASA, and you terrorizing him with your HAL 9000 impressions for years?"

Ronon was shocked to see John blushing; before this, only Teyla managed to accomplish that. And Chuck, that one time he --

"Is there anything we can do other than waiting for the kidnappers to make contact?"

Carter gave them both searching looks before answering John's question.

"Yes, there is, assuming you still trust and will listen to me."

John wasn't alone in tensing from the implications of that statement, and Ronon prepared himself to hear the worst. He'd back John's play, of course, though they'd have trouble bucking Carter's orders anyway, given they were on her spaceship.

John gave her a terse nod, the closest he'd come to actually saying the words.

"Get a few hours of sleep. You two look dead on your feet. Remember, I know exactly how much work and how many hours you've been putting in over the last few days after landing Atlantis on a new planet, so don't embarrass yourself," she warned John before he could protest, and before sending Ronon his own pointed look that was part take care of John and take care of himself.

"We've still got a few leads to chase down before we can take any definitive actions," Carter then went on. "You said you trusted me, so prove it. I promise, we're not going move against anyone without you, and I will wake you even if it's only ten minutes from now if we get the call."

She'd boxed John well, and while he'd sometimes take stupid risks beyond those to his command, John didn't do so when it would endanger someone else. They were, the both of them, exhausted and barely on their feet from Atlantis' needs, with only adrenalin and anger fueling their current stamina.

"I'd like to see Dave first."

"Of course. I co-opted Doctor Emma Cole, by the way, to run medical for the _Hammond_. Oh, and, as you've most likely suspected, she's confirmed that your brother does have the ancient gene. I don't have anything on board to quantify the strength of it, but he shows the same set of markers you do, so it's probably similar."

Unsurprisingly, John didn't look happy about that, given that his brother had already lost so much of his safety and life because of John's involvement with the SGC.

*********

When Dave had been seventeen, he'd fallen from John's field hunter (a bay John had insisted on calling _Solo's Falcon_ when it had been born, after the stupid _Star Wars_ movie), and had broken his left collarbone. He'd missed out on the entire year's varsity teams while he healed, and had broken Melody Wilson's heart by not being able to take her to the homecoming dance. Of course, Melody breaking up with him had left him available to meet and begin dating Vicki the following year when he'd gone off to college, so he'd always considered the accident to have been more fortuitous than not.

The break had still hurt like a bitch, however, as had struggling through physical therapy. Being shot, he found out, hurt about ten times worse, and there would be no therapy to get him back to how he'd been before, not with Vicki gone. And he feared, if they also killed Dani

"Mr. Sheppard," his doctor called out to him in warning before she pulled the curtain aside and walked over to his bedside. "You have a visitor," she informed him as she began her checks.

"I don't -- "

"It's John," she interrupted. "Ah, Colonel Sheppard your brother," she talked over herself, her movements against him turning flustered and matching the faint blush she began sporting.

Ah, another conquest, then, for John. The one thing Dave hadn't ever been truly jealous of, not only as he was confident enough in his own looks, but he'd also dated, gotten engaged, and then married pretty much from the start of when he'd been allowed to, and had had Vicki in his life for nearly twenty-five years.

"Okay," Dave responded, and let her take it as permission, not that he could have stopped any visitor from barging in on him. Not sure in how he felt in having John show up. There was a part of him that was grateful, but mostly he felt surprise, since John had never made it back for any of the other important happening or crises in their family's lives. Like his and Vickie's wedding, Vicki's first miscarriage or Dani's birth. Like their father's heart attack.

Of course, now Dave knew that John definitely couldn't have made it home between the time of their father being stricken and then died, and maybe he could even guess why John had been called away during the funeral; at least the tenor of John's reasons if not the specifics. Dave also could recognize the small measure of envy he was feeling that John had actually become Han Solo as he'd wanted, not that that type of thing had ever been Dave's dream. He also intellectually understood the unfairness of his resentment and doubt as to whether John would have shown up this time, if he own people hadn't gotten themselves involved in Dave's business. If the attack on his wife and the kidnapping of his daughter had just been something random or simply a rival without any connection to John's Starfleet or stargate or whatever the program was called.

Dave was trying, very very hard, not to blame John for Vicki's death. To play the what if game and image how this wouldn't have happened if John had for once thought of someone else and followed the families expectations. Colonel Carter had implied that Sheppard Utilities would have been targeted by these shadow enemies regardless of John, and Dave _wanted_ to believe that true

A tug on the dressing around his leg brought Dave's attention back to his doctor. He immediately looked away again, not needing to see the mess of red and torn tissue bisecting his thigh even if it was mostly a line of neat, even stitches. Dwelling on his thoughts wasn't any better, but feeling anger at John was least normal. Almost comforting.

"It's looking good," Doctor Cole commented lightly and seemed pleased with what she was poking at. "It may be bragging, but I do good work," she then grinned over at him as she covered him back up and quite fussing. "I'll just go and bring them in, then."

Dave assumed the 'them' meant John and the ship's commander, so was surprised to catch a glimpse of the man who'd come with John to their father's funeral at John's side, the Colonel trailing along behind. Watching the two men move further into the medical bay, Dave decided he wasn't so surprised after all, and even found a moment of happiness that John had finally figured it out. Which made John's freeze and tensing when Dr. Cole gave him a hug all the more amusing; someone who was so uncomfortable not just in being shown affection but in actually being touched, would undoubtedly find it easier to be around men, cliché though that thought sounded in Dave's head.

He wondered if John had finally figured out the full extent of his aversion, if he and his friend were anything more than some kind of brothers in arms, then had only to look at the other man and his matching look of fond amusement aimed John's way to know that the answer was yes.

That man … Roman? got his own hug from the doctor, and returned it with the same enthusiasm, leaving Dave glad that at least one of them could properly express themselves in that relationship. Obviously these three knew one another, had most likely served together on Atlantis for a time, though Dave was still having trouble believing Atlantis actually existed.

If it did, though, of course John had ended up there. John had actually liked reading Homer, Milton and all of the rest of the authors in his Classics studies.

As John finally approached, Dave could see that living in a mythical city wasn't all wine and roses for his brother; John actually looked worse than Dave felt -- at least physically.

"You look like crap," Dave found himself voicing that thought and cringed inwardly, hoping John would blame Dave's medication than assume it was a continuation of their old antipathy.

"You're welcome, and it's nothing a few hours of sleep won't cure, whereas your appearance is terminal," John, remarkably, teased back, though he then winced at his wording.

Dave did his best to come up with something like a smile. "I was going to call you Kirk, but you're really more Sisko, aren't you?" he teased in return, not yet ready to talk about Vicki and what had happened.

John didn't look fooled, but he allowed himself to be diverted. "You actually watched _Deep Space Nine_?" he crowed. "Mister _Star Wars_ and science fiction is stupid and a waste of time?"

"Actually, Vicki liked them "

Dave couldn’t stop the catch in his voice and the feeling of despair that swept through him. Everything was going to be about Vicki; John's presence was a direct result of Vicki, both now and in their reconciliation when Dave had wanted nothing to do with his brother while he'd been grieving for their father.

"I know it won't help, be we will get the ones who did this."

John's words weren't just noise and platitude, it was a vow, a promise, and Dave found himself believing John and his friend, who looked just as angry and determined.

"It might help if I'm the one who puts the bullet in their brains," Dave confessed, holding tight to his own rage because it was easier to live with than the emptiness.

John narrowed his gaze and simply looked at Dave for a few long moments, then gave an abrupt nod. "It won't help in the right way, but if that's what you think you need, I do my best to give you that chance."

Another promise and, of course, exactly the opposite of what Dave had been expecting, the opposite of what everyone else would have said. Roman no, _Ronon_ , that had been his name, not just something foreign but _alien_ nodded too, his expression showing almost enthusiasm and leaving no doubt in Dave's mind but that he, too, was a soldier or something even rawer, like a gunslinger or a bounty hunter from the old west, used to dispensing and living with his own brand of justice. Colonel Carter had described Atlantis and the galaxy it inhabited was wilder, not so much less civilized as less regimented or overrun with the bureaucratic governments that reigned over Earth. Despite the deep wrinkles, the gray and the current exhaustion that suffused John's entire bearing, living on a frontier obviously suited his brother. Or at least living with this man did.

"Thank you for coming, John."

_Thank you for caring._

"You're welcome."

**********

Getting seven or eight hours of uninterrupted sleep helped the way John's body was feeling, but it didn't make his first day on the _Hammond_ easy to get through. John had been more than ready upon awakening to beam back down to Earth and pick up any known Trust member and shake them down to find Dani or the ones who had her (with Ronon eager to back him up), but US military officers only got to ignore due process and roust civilians in movies and on television shows unless maybe their name was Jack O'Neill. Not that John wouldn't have accepted the consequences to his career, even if it meant losing Atlantis, if he'd also been able to achieve the desired result. Fortunately, he supposed, Sam had refused to give him and Ronon the chance to get arrested.

Knowing he was doing the right thing didn't help the day go by, however, nor had there been much to do otherwise to distract him from brooding and over thinking. Sure, he'd checked in on Dave a couple of times, but it wasn't like they had that much that they could talk about without bringing up old wounds, or the new ones. John also spend some time getting his ass handed to him by Ronon, then got to smirk in turn when Ronon put down Sam's elite marines and air force personnel just as easily. He'd also brought Emma Cole up to date on the people they'd known in common who'd gone back to Pegasus, but that had still left him with too many hours of nothing, since he didn't even have filling himself in on what had happened recently on Earth, as he'd only left the planet two weeks ago.

Finally, Sam too pity on him or maybe on herself and gave him some of the same kind of work Rodney came up with when the team had been on stand down and stuck on Atlantis for too long for one reason or another: checking over the math on a couple of her research projects, and even taking the time out of her own duties to talk over and show him the improvements she'd had built into the _Hammond_ over the _Daedalus_ or _Apollo_. Meals and more sleep rounded out the rest of the day.

Unfortunately, day two was looking as if it was going to be much of the same, only without as many of the same diversions, and he figured Sam was going to lock him up if he strolled by the bridge or called her there one more time to find out if she'd gotten any updates from their people on the ground. (No one was talking about why the Trust hadn't made contact with Dave yet; not only would it have been counter-productive, but even if they were certain what was going on, they still didn't have any idea of where or the specifics of who).

Just when John figured Sam really had reached the end of her tether, Captain Kleinman, someone else Sam had stolen for her crew though from Caldwell and the _Daedalus_ instead of Atlantis, suggested that John might take Dave out for spin in one of their F-302s, and John wasn't sure who wanted to kiss him more, John himself, or Sam. Although he had flown a few fighter jets in his time in the big Air Force, John had been tagged for rotors early on, and it hadn't been as if he'd been close to Dave back then, even if things had been different. But here, now, not only could John offer Dave the experience of riding RIO in a fighter, but he could also offer Dave a view of the Earth, the Moon and maybe even more that so few people got a chance to see even now.

Assuming he could talk Emma into letting Dave loose from the infirmary.

Clearing it with Ronon first after getting Sam's okay, since his buddy was just as trapped aboard ship and probably feeling even more confined even if Ronon had done a good job of assimilating to Earth and its various cultures during their exile, John was just about to metaphorically knock on Emma's office opening when Sam's voice came over his earbud, low, tight and a little excited. John's gut moved to match.

"John, they're calling with their ransom," Sam informed him. "Emma's got a small conference room, get your brother there and we'll transfer the connection so Bates doesn't have to stall too long."

Emma had looked up at John's arrival, but was now standing and coming toward him, then pointing toward the closed door to the left of her office, proving that Sam had included her in on the comm signal. "There is a speaker box in there that we use when consulting with Carolyn back at the SGC. You'll be able to listen in and even make comments, but they won't hear you if you take your radio off," she suggested, before moving off in Dave's direction.

John knew he should have followed her when he saw her trying to support his badly limping brother; he guess it made sense not to have wheelchairs on spaceship and there had been no fitting for crutches yet. He took over helping his brother cross the distance, signaling Emma to let Sam know when they were ready, with Dave sitting heavily in one of the four chairs, and John taking up a position opposite so he could see Dave's expressions clearly and take his cues. John did not sit.

The tail end of something Bates had answered came up from the weird device in the middle of the table. Dave immediately put in the Bluetooth Emma handed him before she left the room, and then leaned forward.

"This is Dave Sheppard. What am I going to have to do to get my daughter back?"

_"Ah, Mr. Sheppard, good. We were a bit worried that our agents had been too overzealous when we couldn't find any trace of you in the local hospitals. You have a private clinic then?"_

John couldn't place the accent, but then his ear had gotten used to the dialects and cadences of the Pegasus Galaxy. He wasn't even sure if it was a real accent, or rather the speaker trying to cover one more distinctive and not being able to pull off the Hollywood American version.

"Where I've gotten treated has no bearing on this, you bastards," Dave growled in turn. "Let me talk to Dani."

 _"When we have finished our discussion. Perhaps,_ " the slow, fake sounding voice responded.

It could be a computer, or modulated through electronics. John was certain a heavy suite of electronics was sifting through it on this end. The closest thing to a plan they'd come up with so far was using the _Hammond's_ teleportation technology to beam John, Ronon and a team from Sam's crew down if they were able to fix a location, though only if they could also fix that that was Dani's location. John expected that Ronon was on his way now to him, with a tac vest and John's weapons in hand.

"So talk. What is your proposal?" Anger and adrenalin was getting Dave though this, plus long experience in boardrooms and shareholder wars, John suspected. As did the voice on the other end, it seemed.

_"A businessman to the last, how refreshing. Because that is what this is, Mr. Sheppard. All that this is. Business. Though I am sure you feel that we have made things personal, killing your wife was necessary to present our bona fides, the taking of your daughter simply securing collateral in advance of our deal."_

"Spare me and just get to the fucking point."

Ronon slipped in just as Dave called the voice on its posturing. He gave Dave a fierce grin before crossing over the John's side and handing him his equipment.

_"Very well. Since you already signed the contract it was suggested that you forego, our demand is simple. In a few hours an offer to buy out your privately held subsidiary, Solo Aeronautics, will be forwarded to you. All you have to do is sign the agreement and provide the password to all of your research. In return, you will be richly compensated, with your daughter's life."_

"Fine. Now let me talk to Dani."

_"Fine, Mr. Sheppard? Surely it is not that easy "_

The voice definitely sounded rattled, while Dave offered a ghost of a smile, the kind of shark grin John remembered all too often on his father's face. Since he had one of his own, generally aimed at people like Kolya or Wraith Queens, John was more encouraged than bothered in seeing it.

"Hey, you're the one who called it easy … simple," Dave shot back. "Like you said, it's a private held subsidiary. Of course, it is my brother's company, not mine, but …"

Dave reflected John's look of approval right back as John check through the action of his handgun before picking up the shotgun that Ronon had also brought him. Funny how there wasn't a zat included with the remaining knives John also began to secret about his clothing while Ronon repositioned a couple of his own.

_"Yes, but you have your brother's proxy, Mr. Sheppard. We have done our homework."_

"Maybe you have, but obviously not very well. I can only exercise that proxy when John isn't available."

 _"What? But we were assured that Colonel Sheppard wasn't on -- wasn't on_ hand. _No matter,"_ the voice continued despite sounding as if it mattered quite a lot.

John hadn't realized he had that kind of reputation here on Earth, but he was willing to go with it if it helped.

_"Surely you will be able to convince him when he is made aware of what we're willing to pay."_

Obviously he and Ronon had gotten it wrong; the Trust wasn't looking for John. They'd been waiting until John was gone. Waiting for the time when they knew the _two_ people who actually knew the big picture of what Solo Aeronautics was working on, weren't even on Earth and figuring that Dave's oversight managing for the company in John's stead was vague enough that he wouldn’t know the implications of what research he'd be giving the Trust access to.

Only the Trust hadn't just screwed up in return in underestimating Landry's (or more likely O'Neill's) willingness to use up ZPM energy to get John back home when this had gone down. They also didn't seem to have the intel that Radek Zelenka had not made the trip back with Atlantis when they could have just kidnapped him and not had to go through all of this violence and bullshit. Not that John wanted Radek to have been kidnapped or tortured to give up the secrets of an earth based puddlejumper, a sky and space plane far beyond what Richard Branson was working on.

At least the Trust had found out enough about the project to know that Rodney wasn't involved, so that Jeannie hadn't been made a target again.

John signaled Dave not to answer and clicked his own earbud back on. "Why don't you convince me yourself, asshole."

_"Colonel Sheppard, this is --"_

"Let Dave hear Dani's voice right now, or I promise you, that when we find you, no matter what else happens, I'm going to introduce _you_ to my friend, Todd."

Dave looked confused at John's threat, but seemed to take Ronon's look of fierce satisfaction as acceptable.

 _"Very well,"_ the voice answered, sounding scared, and sullen while trying to hide it.

They had to wait for nearly twenty seconds, just long enough for John to wonder it the Trust's man had connected to his own relay instead of having sent away for Dani to be brought in to his position. Frankly, John was ready to chance it either way; even without the threat of feeding this bastard to a Wraith, John figured he or Ronon could get him to give up Dani's location before anyone knew their spokesman was missing

_"Daddy?"_

"Dani, thank god. Are you --"

Dave couldn't say okay, because obviously his daughter wasn't okay, not even in a relative sense, having seen her mother and Cadman gunned down.

 _"They haven't hurt me,"_ Dani answered. _"They haven't fed me anything but crackers, either."_

Dave didn't look like he knew whether he wanted to laugh or to cry, and before John had a chance to hear Dave's response, Ronon gave his shoulder a sudden tap and the room dissolved around them.

John had done this enough times, and being teleported through Asgard technology wasn't nearly as disorienting as the Wraith beam. The marines with him were Sam's not his, and maybe not as experienced (or maybe more), but Ronon definitely was, and they moved as one, turning to take in the whole of the room and cover each other's backs. Fortune had the marines between John, the kidnapper and Dani, so the kidnapper didn't go down with a bullet through his forehead. John tapped Ronon for that instead, knowing he could fire over the heads of the crouching marines with his blaster and not really caring if Ronon had his gun set on stun or kill.

Probably John should have been the one then moving to calm Dani down when the man holding her crumpled, but she had met Ronon, along with Rodney and Teyla during the one trip John had made back to Maryland during their exile, had even shown herself to have a little crush on Ronon. And Ronon would protect Dani even if she hadn't been family, if something happened before she got beamed back to the _Hammond_ , even if he'd be bitching later about John leaving him while he took the marines to clear out the rest of this building.

John was already berating himself for even thinking of the possibility of something going wrong, when the entire wall to their right side slid apart and the gunfire started. He heard Ronon grunt in pain before the sounds of returning fire covered it up, then was falling himself with a fucking bullet in a mirror position to his brother's.

The bad guys weren't using zats either.

They did seem to have orders to refrain from killing, however. Sam hadn't issued the same, though John supposed they should take at least one of them alive.

"Leave one," he barked out, pulling his own shot to drill the guy opposite him with a matching thigh wound, though he wasn't sure if he was offering payback or just being prudent.

"The guy on the phone is alive," Ronon called out.

Fine. Better than fine, hopefully, both in having someone probably higher up on the Trust's food chain than gunmen, and that Ronon was okay enough to still be talking. John signaled for the marines to finish it.

**********

If Ronon had to be back on Earth, he was happy John had acquiesced to his brother's wishes and brought them back to John's ancestral home. Ronon really liked the horses, and the countryside around it was remote enough not to worry about neighbors, but also close enough to the nearest city that they could lose themselves amongst a crowd that thrived in anonymity and pleasure.

Not that either of them were up for too much even now, nearly a three weeks after getting Dani back. Ronon was pretty pissed about that, since they seemed to have Dave's (and Dani's) blessing, and because John was hopping around without his crutches (over doctor's orders and Dani's admonishments -- Ronon and Dave, they were just laughing at how graceless John moved), while Ronon was still confined to a back brace and not allowed to stand for more than an hour a couple of times a day.

Or fuck John, at all, and Ronon never thought he'd get tired of blow jobs, but …

Getting shot in the stomach (or fed on by a Wraith) was still higher in the ranks of his injuries, but getting shot in the back, even if the bullet had been deflected by his back ribs away from his spine and hadn't punched through to anything vital, was still a pain as well as still caused pain. As was the idea that he had a scar again there, after Rodney had healed it away when he'd been more Ancient than human.

Being here in this part of the country had also given Ronon a chance to meet Nancy again and, more, to watch John struggle to accept her concern and well wishes, then to laugh at John's jealousy when they'd also ended up meeting Nancy's new husband. (That night's blowjob from John had definitely not been routine or basic, was something Ronon was hoping to match, once he got his flexibility back.) They'd also spent some time with O'Neill and Carter and why those two together had surprised John, Ronon still didn't understand. Ronon had picked up on Carter's feeling for O'Neill back when she'd been in charge of Atlantis.

Mainly, though, they'd spent the time with each other, with absolutely no worry about who might see them, as well as plenty of time with Dave and Dani, learning about Vicki and otherwise helping those two through their grieving and their new understanding of the universe; this gift of days where only family mattered was only part of what the SGC owed all of the Sheppards, even if Ronon knew that part of John was badly chafing to return to Atlantis. The IOA had been less willing for Earth to expend their ZPM to get them back, and neither of them had been up for being confined on any of the Earth's intergalactic ships for three weeks during the beginning of their own healing.

"So, it turns out that Radek and company are nearly done with their repairs on the control chair," John offered as he came up on Ronon's position leaning against the fence as Ronon watched Dani put one of the horses through its paces.

"The IOA will authorize a gate opening since it's more than just us going back. Actually, there is going to be a shit load of people going over, like most of the people working on the project the Trust was trying to get their hands on. It seems they've decided Atlantis and Pegasus is safer than here. At least for secret projects."

Ronon didn't turn toward John; he was the one Dani asked to watch over her since her Dad wasn't letting her ride unsupervised right now. "O'Neill says the IOA is preparing for some kind of disclosure about the stargates and aliens to the rest of your world."

"You're shitting me! How do you know that?"

Ronon smirked at the sheer surprise in John's voice. "By talking to your ex. She also says that maybe they're ready to open Atlantis up to families. Think McKay's sister would move her family there?"

"I don't think I could survive an Atlantis with two McKays there full time," John admitted with a rueful laugh.

"What about two Sheppards?" Ronon had to ask.

John stopped laughing. "Dave is my father's son. The family business is everything."

"You're his son too, and maybe the business means family, Sheppard. John." Ronon took a deep breath. "You should ask him, tell him it would be okay for him to look to something else." Ronon gestured around them, then nodded his head Dani's direction.

"This place is just full of ghosts right now. For the both of them. Atlantis might be good for them. Being around you wouldn't hurt, either. Family, trust, _the_ Trust tried to take that away. You, and Atlantis, you're the ones who can give it back. At least it worked for me."

For a long moment John said nothing and Ronon feared he'd said to much. Then:

"Yeah? Okay."

John's arms snaked around him and Ronon shifted into the hold, moving just enough to encourage John to go ahead and lean in.

"Me too, buddy," was whispered in Ronon's ear. "Me too."

  
_Never opened myself this way_

_Life is ours, we live it our way_

_All these words I don’t just say_

_And nothing else matters_

\-- finis --


End file.
